The Black Knight
by wolf.of.the.forgiven95
Summary: A few years after the events of the dragons, the Dragonborn, Garik, has settled down with Aela the Huntress in Solitude with three beautiful children. He has hung up his sword for good and has taken to studying myths of the world. One day, the peace that he worked so hard to achieve is threatened when one of them comes to fruition.


_**This was an idea I had this morning. Reviews would be great. Enjoy :)**_

**The Black Knight**

_ The black knight. The scourge of Skyrim and her people. A draugr overlord with a blade that can kill an army in one stroke. No one has ever seen this demon face to face and lived to tell the story of it, except for one nord: Fenris Heaven-Sword, Guardian of the people. He has become naught but a memory in Skyrim. Few remember the story of how he and the black knight dueled for the sake of the world on Alduin's scales before the time dragons ruled over men. Their swords clashed. Their armor cracked. They battled until finally they both fell to the otherworldly skill of the other._

_ However, this was expected by Fenris. As the final blow was struck, sending both the draugr and the angel off the back of the dragon, he called upon the power of the elder scrolls to open a void in time. The wind came as they plummeted to the face of Nirn. The spiritual manifest that is created from the readings of these scripts of almighty splendor came and took up the black knight in a vortex of power. It swirled and began crushing him. The yell of pain and earth-shattering anger that came from the draugr broke the summits off of mountains, curdled the swiftest rivers, and closed up the deepest ravines. The vortex took him and he disappeared. From him, Nirn heard no more._

_ Then, Fenris fell. Some say that the black knight, to this day, haunts the world with his spirit and will some day return, but when that day comes, Fenris Heaven-Sword will answer the call and come back to fight the demon he defeated long ago._

I propped my youngest daughter, Freya, in my lap and looked at her and my two other children- my oldest girl, Runa, and my son, Asgeir. "Is that a good story for the three of you?" I smiled at the wide-eyed nods they all gave me, my two-year-old burying her head in the crook of my neck. "Well," I said, "then you all should get to bed," I made my voice a little spooky to mess with them, "before the black knight comes to get you." My littlest one clutched her arms around my neck and the other two begged me to stop the voice while my wife, Aela the Huntress, chuckled in the kitchen.

My wife set down her book and walked over to the fire place in the living room of our home, Proudspire Manor, in Solitude. "I had thought," she said in a semi-threat to me, "that you were not going to give them nightmares. Perhaps we should tell them a different story to ease their minds." She picked up Freya from my lap and I took the hint to shut up. She was terrifying whenever she got mad. I got up from my chair and took an interest in sharpening my dragon scale sword, Sanctification, while Aela sat down herself. "Now," she started, "What story do you want to hear?"

Before any of the children could say anything, there was a loud banging on the door. My shoulders immediately tensed as well as my face deepening into a scowl at the intrusion. It was late. Who would be coming at this hour? I had on my steel gauntlets and boots, but the rest of my armor was upstairs, lying in the corner. If anything came at me, it would tear my exposed chest to bits.

I realized I was over thinking this and went to answer the door, throwing my sword over my shoulder. A slight turn of the handle, and I opened the door to reveal an old friend of mine and fellow soldier, Hadvar. This was unexpected. He never comes to my house. I immediately knew something bad was happening.

"Legate Garik," he said to me urgently, "You're needed at the castle. General Tulius has asked for you personally."

I crossed my arms. "Can't this wait until morning? I'm spending time with my family for the first time in a month."

Hadvar looked confused, his face contorting in pain like he didn't know which way to go. I honestly felt sorry for the guy. Legate was the highest rank afforded to foreign soldiers who wished to become officers, and I was given that rank by the only man higher than me, and that was the general himself. "I don't think so, sir," he said, suddenly formal, "A man named Isran has come asking for you."

You could cut the tension in the air with a knife. There was no one in any plane of existence- no man, mer, beast folk, daedra or aedra -that could get me to go to the castle and talk to Isran without killing the guy. As soon as Hadvar had said his name, I clenched my fist and brought my other hand up to my sword. I spoke through clenched teeth. "What... in _Oblivion_ does that son of goblin's uncle want?"

Aela didn't need any more encouragement than that. Without hesitation, she brought the children to their room and came back down. "Love," she cooed, trying to keep me calm, "Who is Isran?" She wrapped her arms around me from behind and kissed my neck, using her werewolf empathy skills to send calming vibes my way. If it wasn't for her, I would've morphed to my own wolf form and ripped Hadvar's head off.

I didn't show any sign that her on me was affecting me, but my voice did lose some of it's edge whenever I was being held by her, and that would never change. "Isran is the two-faced milk drinker who exploited my..." I had to catch myself for the sake of my friend and my wife, "special gift... to fight vampires. Sure. I did get along with the _wolves_ but he stabbed me in the back trying to reform the dawnguard." The signal about him abusing my wolf blood was obvious to her but hidden to Hadvar.

I could feel the rumble in Aela's belly as she suppressed a growl. I had told her that story a long time ago after coming home, half-wolf and covered in blood with a vampire named Serana, and she despised Isran ever since. "Why," she snarled sweetly yet menacingly, "would that snake be asking for you, dear?" I knew that smile on her face. She was out for blood. It was so tempting and would've been more than interesting to let her loose on the man, but my heart betrayed me. I couldn't let her fight my battle for me.

I held her hands as she was digging her nails into my chest. "I don't know. But I'm going to go see what he wants and hopefully get some answers." She bit me, reminding me of something. "And pay back as well."

She kissed where she bit. "Are you sure?"

"Yes," I said, breaking our embrace and going to get a clean shirt, "I'm sure." I put on my shirt and kissed her good-bye. She wished me luck, and I went to the castle with Hadvar who could never seem to keep his nose out of other peoples' business.

"What made you decide to come?" He asked. His question was innocent enough, so I decided to grace him with an answer.

"My wife is Aela the Huntress- one of, if not _the _deadliest members of the Companions, and she wants to tear out Isran's throat. You know I can't let her fight my battles for me, not to mention how much of a threat Isran is and how much I want to keep my family out of harm's way. Fortunately, I knew if I left on my own accord, she wouldn't go after him herself. Follow?"

My old friend grunted his understanding and we walked in silence the rest of the way to the castle. He led me to where we always met during the civil war, the officer's table in the main building, and I saw the bulky redguard talking to my general. It took everything I had not to take him out right then and there. Instead, I slammed my hands on the table, making it shake, and made my presence and my anger known to the man who didn't even flinch.

"You'd better have a good excuse for taking me from my home this late at night, Isran." I stated, menacingly. He didn't even look away from General Tulius. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Legate Rikke tilt her head at this obvious sign of disrespect, and honestly, I was about to snap. After a bit of silence, I drew my sword and pointed it at his throat. Again, not one flinch.

Isran sighed and calmly pushed my sword tip away from his throat. "Put that away, Garik. I'm here on official business."

I chopped the sword into the table and let it stay there, crossing my arms. "And what makes you think I'd be willing to help you after our last encounter? Why should I not just kill you and be done with you?"

A woman's voice came from the corner at my back where I walked in. I recognized it right away and realized I had been so focused on Isran that I didn't pick up her scent. "Because the dawnguard has a new target that is forcing them to team up with their greatest enemies like me."

I turned, and my expression softened slightly. "Serana. It's good to see you. Now what do you mean by 'target?'" The pale, black haired, royal vampire walked up to me with a natural sway to her hips. I knew I was in love with Aela, and a Companion, and a former member of the dawnguard, but there was something about Serana that drove my instincts crazy, even if she was a vampire.

"As much as your 'instincts' turn me on," she said, reading my emotions with her own empathic sense like always, "this is serious. Isran is right. We have to be all business right now."

Everyone I've ever introduced her to knows her as this aloof, non-chalant person with no sexiness whatsoever, but I knew her more personably. The fact that she wasn't messing with my emotions and instincts right now, even if there were others around, let me know just how dangerous and serious the situation must have been. Especially if she and Isran were on somewhat good terms at the moment.

I looked at the two and nodded, my expression suddenly a new kind of serious, and pulled my sword out of the table. Suddenly, General Tulius broke into the conversation, "Isran, I don't know the purpose of your visit or why you asked to see one of my best lieutenants, and I demand to know why. You can't come in here and start making demands like this without giving some kind of reason for them."

The two older men glowered at each other. They stayed that way for a little bit, seemingly enjoying the tension, but after awhile, Isran must have decided that it was ok with him if Tulius knew the purpose of his visit. He crossed his arms and looked me over, "You know I wouldn't be here unless it was important, Garik."

"Right." I said at length.

"This has to do with everything you were studying about Fenris and the black knight."

My heart completely dropped. This was bad. This was _so _bad. I was one of the only people in all of Tamriel, possibly the only one, who knew what the black knight was capable of. Anything coming up from him would be bad. Not just that, but if it got the dawnguard and vampires to be acting friendly towards each other, and even teaming up with each other for the greater good of the world, there was only one thing I could think of.

"He's coming back," I said, "Isn't he?"

The silence that enveloped the room was enough of an answer. I swear, you could almost taste and see the tension that had formed from one simple question. Serana wouldn't meet my eyes. Isran even looked away from me. We were all silent for what felt like hours but could only be minutes.

"We're not sure yet," Isran was the first to speak, "but we know if we don't stop what's been happening, things will end badly for the entire continent."

My face dropped to the floor. This was bad. There was nothing that could be worse than the black knight returning to the world, even Alduin and the return of the dragons a few years ago that I had to handle with the help of the blades. Alduin was known as the world eater. He was meant to bring the destruction of this world and every world after it, but even he is nothing compared to the threat that is to come with the black knight. The black knight is meant to be the stuff made of pure nightmares. He is meant to be the harbinger of fear and death, and came out of the depths of Oblivion to bring about a person's worst, darkest, and deepest fears and regrets. That is true terror. Something that natural calamity could never bring about. Something or someone that holds the kind of power that can control someone else's emotions in that way is truly the biggest threat to any and all worlds.

I clenched my fists without looking at anybody in the room. They had all been with me in my journey as Dovahkiin and they knew all the bad things I had faced. The eye of Magnus, Alduin, the Silver Hand, the vampire threat. Everything. They knew how bad things could get and they had all seen me deal with everything head on without showing any kind of fear. If this had gotten me the way I was, they knew things were bad.

I looked up and looked at each one of them, thanking them for the moment they had all just given me. I looked to Isran. "What do you need me to do?"

He nodded like this was what he expected. If things were really this bad, then I didn't have a choice. I would have to get along with him. He handed me a rolled up piece of parchment, tied together with a purple string, and I took it. "What I need you to do," he explained, "is find this girl. She's a nordic noble from Cyrodiil." I opened up the letter and read the contents while he explained, "In that letter is a description of who she is and where she'll be for the next eleven days. I got this from the dark brotherhood and paid them a lot of gold to keep them from accepting contracts that involve this noble. Plus, I think you know her."

I read the contents of the letter. According to what I was reading... no way... I couldn't believe what was on the paper. I wasn't sure if I should jump for joy and sit in a corner and cry. My hands started to shake on the paper. "My sister," I managed to croak, "My sister is coming to Skyrim in three days..."


End file.
